World to Tablehttp://worldtotable.com
Bringing the world to your table. And into your mouth.Sun, 20 Jul 2014 05:03:35 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.1An Ode to Perilla: From Quesadillas to Cruditeshttp://worldtotable.com/2014/07/20/an-ode-to-perilla-from-quesadillas-to-crudites/
http://worldtotable.com/2014/07/20/an-ode-to-perilla-from-quesadillas-to-crudites/#respondSun, 20 Jul 2014 05:03:35 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1561Continue reading →]]>In the summer of 2008, bronchitis my mom and I went to the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, where she produced the programming for the demo booth at the Korean Pavilion. Roy Choi and his Kogi truck team flew in from LA to headline the demo and we were working with them to prepare kimchi quesadillas to sample to attendees. At the time, I was intrigued by Roy’s choice to serve a quesadilla and was worried that it might be too pedestrian to serve to the attendees of a restaurant show. I wondered, how could sandwiching cheese and kimchi between a tortilla possibly be that good?

Let me tell you, it can be really damn good, just like the rest of his food I would eventually try. Turns out that Roy’s secret “sauce” that made it a winning dish was not a sauce at all, it was the Korean perilla. While the kimchi and cheese were the dominating flavors, what made the quesadilla really gel together was the unexpected contrast between the kimchi and cheese and the perilla leaves. Suspended between the oozing cheese and piquant kimchi were thin shreds of julienned perilla leaves, which added an unexpectedly bright and clean flavor in each bite. Since those kimchi quesadillas, we now grow perilla plants in abundance on our rooftop garden.

So, what are perilla leaves? A more robust cousin to Japanese shiso in the mint family, Korean perilla (sometimes called “sesame leaves”) is used regularly in Korean cuisine and is commonly eaten either fresh (as wrap for barbecued meat) or pickled.

Fast forward 6 years to a few weeks ago, my mom was producing a demo at the Korean Pavilion, this time at the Fancy Food Show in New York and we were brainstorming what we could serve. The recipe we ended up serving was a crudités cup of bell peppers, carrots and pear with a seaweed crisp, a gochujang dipping sauce, and of course, perilla.

1. Slice the pear, carrots and bell peppers into matchsticks
2. Serve vegetables and pear in a small cup with a dollop of gochujang and a seaweed crisp

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2014/07/20/an-ode-to-perilla-from-quesadillas-to-crudites/feed/0K-reative Cooking Competition at the CIAhttp://worldtotable.com/2013/07/13/k-reative-cooking-competition-at-the-cia/
http://worldtotable.com/2013/07/13/k-reative-cooking-competition-at-the-cia/#respondSat, 13 Jul 2013 16:18:57 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1533Continue reading →]]>Two Sundays ago, medicine I took a field trip out of the city to spend the day at the sweltering kitchens of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. With my DSLR in tow, youth health I was there to attend and photograph the K-reative Cooking Competition, website a student competition produced by my mom on behalf of the Korean Agro-Trade Center to showcase Korean ingredients.

Narrowed down to five teams of six students, only three of the teams competing that day would be making it to New York City the following weekend to attend the Fancy Food Show and demo their winning dishes at the Korean Pavilion.

The Judges

At the judge’s table were Dean Howie Velie, Maangchi, and Professor Michael Pardus, who evaluated each team’s dish based on taste, use of Korean ingredients, creativity, and presentation.

Fried kelp chips tossed in cinnamon sugar, a Korean interpretation of churros. This was awesome.

Quail egg stuffed ravioli

Plating the final dishes

Buns, freshly steamed and made from scratch.

NYC in Hyde Park

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Runners Up

It was amazing to see how each team was able to creatively integrate Korean ingredients into their dishes, all within the two hours they had in the kitchen. Excited to see what’s next for them after graduation.

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2013/07/13/k-reative-cooking-competition-at-the-cia/feed/0Coconut, PB and Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats and Girlshttp://worldtotable.com/2012/06/08/coconut-pb-and-chocolate-rice-crispy-treats-and-girls/
http://worldtotable.com/2012/06/08/coconut-pb-and-chocolate-rice-crispy-treats-and-girls/#commentsFri, 08 Jun 2012 19:28:09 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1475Continue reading →]]>Sorry, apoplectic guys. It’s been almost half a year since I’ve posted on here, and that last post wasn’t even written by me (I know, shh!) But after reading several posts by some of my blogger pals recounting a potluck shindig I threw on my rooftop last Friday, I’m feeling motivated to dust off the good ole WordPress account. While I’m at it, I thought I’d better jot down the recipe for the rice crispy treats I made for the potluck. I mean really, how did Spring already turn into Summer?

Before we get to the treats, let’s spend a moment to talk about girls. No, I’m not talking about the HBO series, which I admit I do watch. (To read the best commentary about that show, you really should be reading Eddie Huang’s recaps.) Rather, I want to spend a moment to recognize some awesome gals I know.

Last Friday I threw the aforementioned party on my rooftop in Long Island City, inviting some of the bloggers visiting from out of town whom I’ve gotten to know through Gojee. What started off as informal plans to grab drinks evolved into a bigger potluck gathering with both visiting and local bloggers at my apartment.

It was so nice to catch up with friends and meet new ones whom I’ve only been in touch with online and was meeting for the first time in person. Without too much planning, everything came together pretty seamlessly, with the exception of the ominous overcast. Food was served, libations were shared and heartfelt conversations were had. Though some of us had only met that day, by the end of the night it felt like we were all old friends.

One of the more openly honest and poignant topics of conversation that evening touched on the struggles of grappling with the increasingly aspirational culture of blogging and the fact that sometimes reality isn’t particularly aspirational. Kasey more eloquently sums up the conversation here. I suppose it also helped that I was liquoring everyone up with shots of beet sugar vodka throughout the night.

Ignoring the wind and drizzle, we persevered and made our way through the impressive spread. Unfortunately, I was only able to squeeze a few Instagrams on my phone in between playing hostess for the evening, so the following is by no means a complete representation of the offerings on the potluck table. Check it out –

While I’m still on the topic of girls, I wanted to give two more shout outs to a couple more awesome girls that I know –

First, to my NYU homegirls Talisa Chang and Juliet Linderman, who along with Aldona Watts and Diana Diroy started Her Girl Friday and recently hosted a panel of veteran editors from the New York Times and New York Magazine titled How to Pitch Like a Girl. The premise of the panel was to provide encouragement and insights from established journalism veterans on how to effectively pitch stories in order to level the gender playing field in journalism and storytelling. And oh hey, they also just made it onto the cover page of the New York Observer!

Last but not least, a shout out goes to my co-organizers of the recently revived Girls in Tech NYC Chapter – Kara Rota of Cookstr, Jamie Eun Lee of Tipping Point Partners and Amanda Moritz of Brainscape. After we hacked the mailing list for Girls in Tech to throw a mixer a couple months back, we were caught red-handed by the organizers of the official Girls in Tech organization. Don’t worry, we officially now have their blessings to proceed. Kara, Jamie, Amanda and I are aiming to achieve something similar to that of Her Girl Friday but in the equally male-dominated world of tech, starting with our Start-up Equity 101 Primer on June 13th. The primer is designed to educate more women about equity in start-up companies in order to negotiate for equity more effectively. Wish us luck!

Alright, now that I’ve laced this post with enough hyperlinks to explode WordPress, onwards to the treats. Have a great weekend, everyone –

Directions:
1. Stir together the peanut butter and melted chocolate in a double boiler (I used a metal mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water) until smooth.
3. Fold in the peanut butter and chocolate mixture with the crispies in a mixing bowl.
4. Pour the mixture into a parchment lined baking sheet and top with shredded coconut and sesame seeds.
5. Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 to 2 hours to allow the treats to set quicker. (I put it in the fridge overnight)
6. Once everything has set, carefully peel the treat from the sheet of parchment, cut and serve.

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2012/06/08/coconut-pb-and-chocolate-rice-crispy-treats-and-girls/feed/6Seaweed: Beyond Sushi and Saladhttp://worldtotable.com/2012/01/22/seaweed-beyond-sushi-and-salad/
http://worldtotable.com/2012/01/22/seaweed-beyond-sushi-and-salad/#commentsSun, 22 Jan 2012 21:03:29 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1456Continue reading →]]>I grew up eating seaweed in soups and as snacks but rarely did I treat it as a “sea vegetable.” Last week, store I had the unique opportunity to produce an event at the De Gustibus cooking school about seaweed, viagra or gim (Korean dried seaweed). The panelists – the charismatic chef/owner of Miya’s Sushi, Bun Lai; FreshDirect’s corporate nutritionist, Maggie Moon, joined by world renowned experts from UConn, Dr. Charles Yarish and Dr. Jang Kyun Kim, enlightened a group of chefs, academia and food writers about the merits of seaweed.

Truly on the cusp of popularity in the United States, we saw that seaweed is not only an excellent and inexpensive source of nutrients, sustainable (it can grow several feet in a day!), but also helps in reversing the degradation of marine environment caused by coastal fish farming. Myself, I’ve always known seaweed to be a good source of iodine, but never realized the amount of vitamins and proteins it contains. Even our moderator, Andrea Beaman, proclaimed a seaweed diet cured her goiter.

The host of the event, Korea Agro-Trade New York, announced their collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America on developing a recipe book using gim as an everyday ingredient – which will be published later this year. Chef Phillip Crispo, from the CIA, even provided us with a demo and tasting of delightful seaweed dishes. Ht truly took gim to a different direction – using it creatively in stuffed pork loin, spanokopita and tortellini. It made sense, since seaweed is a sea vegetable, which can easily substitute other ingredients such as spinach! My favorites were, surprisingly, the gim popcorn, gim ice cream and my goodness, the gim brittle in my goodie bag. I could not get enough of that!

And now, I leave you with one of the dishes served at the tasting, simple enough to make for yourself at home.

Gim-Dressed Popcorn
Courtesy of Fabulous and Flavorful Gim: A Collection of Korean Seaweed Recipes developed by Faculty Chefs from the Culinary Institute of America

1. Place the gim in a spice grinder and grind until it is finely ground.

2. Place the ground gim and the butter in a small bowl or pot and melt, either in a microwave for 30 to 45 seconds or on the stovetop over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed sautoir over medium-high heat. Add the corn kernels and cover the pan with a lid. Gently shake the pan on the burner for the duration of the cooking time and listening for popping kernels to cease popping. Once the kernels stop popping, after 4 to 5 minutes, remove the foil and transfer the popcorn to a large mixing bowl.

4. Combine the gim butter with the popcorn and cover the bowl tightly with foil. Shake the bowl well to evenly coat the popcorn with the butter. Remove the foil, and serve.

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2011/12/20/woks-lox-menu/feed/2Woks & Loxhttp://worldtotable.com/2011/12/15/woks-lox/
http://worldtotable.com/2011/12/15/woks-lox/#respondThu, 15 Dec 2011 05:51:51 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1430Continue reading →]]>I moved to New York when I was 13. I left a suburban town in Los Angeles that was almost entirely Chinese for a very similar suburban town in New York — with the exception that it was almost entirely all Jewish.

I won’t lie, approved being a new kid in 7th grade was a trying time, and at times it really sucked a lot. It took a while for me to adjust, but looking back at my childhood, I don’t regret it at all. If anything, I’m grateful that I’ve had a chance to have grown up in a Jewish community and be immersed in Jewish culture, which I’ve found to have many similarities and connections to my Chinese upbringing.

Even in Los Angeles, we never had a Christmas tree at my house, and I probably never will. This Christmas Eve, I won’t be crying about my treeless apartment- the only tears I’ll be shedding will be tears of joy. I’ll be celebrating the bond between Jews and Asians by co-hosting Woks and Lox at the Queens Kickshaw with my Jewish co-producer, Jeff Orlick, and we’d love for you to come too.

Of course any celebration, Jewish or Asian, can’t be without food and drink. So, our good friend and talented chef Chichi Wang will be preparing a sit-down dinner for 20 followed by a party of 40 more, complete with Sino-semitic noshes.

The fun doesn’t end there. Aside from dinner and noshes, we’ll have entertainment ranging from adaptations of Chinese wedding games to barmitzvah festivities and mah jong, as well as a Chinese auction with prizes donated by some of our favorite small businesses and companies.

Last but not least, we’re doing it at one of our favorite places in our home borough of Queens, The Queens Kickshaw. We couldn’t do this without Kickshaw owners Ben Sandler and Jen Lim, two of our very first supporters of Woks & Lox and not-so-coincidentally also a Jewish and Asian duo, who have generously offered to host us and even be there personally to mix special drinks just for this special Christmas evening.

Christmas Eve is a tough date to make, but even if you can’t come, we don’t want you to feel left out – so we’re making holiday cards, money holders, and party t0-go packs from me and Jeff at Woks & Lox HQ (aka my apartment) – all for sale on IndieGoGo alongside the tickets to the event. It’s going to be fun, and I hope you can be a part of it. If you can’t, please help us to spread the word and make our Christmas wish come true.

“My wife challenged me to cook, caries 5 mins later someone tweeted or blogged about [Gojee] and … BAM! I’ve done two dishes already, pharmacy and I have never cooked in my life before :O Great job guys!”

It’s emails like these that makes me feel like we’re making big changes with Gojee. We’re converting people into home cooks, one recipe at a time.

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2011/07/29/emails/feed/0A First Encounter with Garlic Scapeshttp://worldtotable.com/2011/07/01/a-first-encounter-with-garlic-scapes/
http://worldtotable.com/2011/07/01/a-first-encounter-with-garlic-scapes/#commentsFri, 01 Jul 2011 23:40:42 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1288Continue reading →]]>It was my mom’s birthday this past weekend, prescription so I took it upon myself to explore the farmer’s market that morning to find some culinary inspiration for dinner that night. Strolling through the stalls in Jackson Heights, I found myself drawn to a plastic carton spilling with curly garlic scapes. I had never cooked with scapes before, but before I could second guess myself, I impulsively purchased two big handfuls and was on my way home.

While garlic scapes closely resemble beans or scallions, they’re actually shoots of the garlic plant. As for their taste, they have a milder, sweeter garlic flavor than garlic itself. If you eat it raw, you may get a minor case of garlic breath that lasts until the next morning, but it’s a small price to pay for a unique taste that is only in season for a short time.

Inspired by an episode of the Kimchi Chronicles in which Jean-Georges and Hugh Jackman prepared a delectable kimchi compound butter to slather onto a Wagyu steak, I decided to attempt a compound butter of my own with garlic scapes and lemon thyme to pair with the rib-eye steak my dad was planning to grill on the barbecue.

So how do you make Garlic Scape and Lemon Thyme Compound Butter? Well, lucky for you, I snapped all the steps on Instagram. Here it goes..

Chop them into 1 inch sections and throw into the food processor. Meanwhile, place your two sticks of butter out on the counter to warm up to room temperature.

Blend garlic scapes until finely chopped.

Grab a handful of thyme or lemon thyme and run your fingers through each step to take off the leaves.

Slice your room temperature butter into 1/2 inch slices and throw them in a mixing bowl with your chopped scapes and thyme leaves.

Using a fork and/or spatula, incorporate the ingredients together.

Split the butter into two portions and roll it up with a piece of wax or parchment paper, like you would a sushi roll, and twist the ends so it looks like a piece of candy. Stick one into the fridge and let it set for a few hours, and throw the second into the freezer to use in the future.

This is what it should look like, when it’s all set and unwrapped.

Take a few slices and eat it with your steak (like I did, above), slather it on toasted bread, or mix it in with a warm potato salad. As we made our way through dinner, each bite was complimented by a burst of garlic scape nibs and thyme – it was awesome!

And I think everyone agreed too. Happy Birthday, Mom!

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2011/07/01/a-first-encounter-with-garlic-scapes/feed/6The Social Kitchenhttp://worldtotable.com/2011/06/12/the-social-kitchen/
http://worldtotable.com/2011/06/12/the-social-kitchen/#commentsSun, 12 Jun 2011 19:59:10 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1260Food 2.0, Amanda Hesser of Food 52 said something that really stuck to me:
"Technology is knocking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room"Left to Right: Mike Lee (Studio Feast), Amanda Hesser (Food 52), Mike LaValle (Gojee), Sarah Maine (RecipeRelay), Will Turnage (Ratio Bread App & R/GA)
I never really thought about it before, but in some ways it's true — while the act of eating together and breaking bread has always been an inherently social activity, cooking has conventionally been more of a solitary act confined to the kitchen. If you think about it, a traditional kitchen has almost always been walled off from the dining room, and in a way, that separation also dictates our interactions in both spaces.
Whether it's at home or at the restaurant, there has long been a schism between eating and cooking - in the case of the home it's the divide between the kitchen and the dining room, and at the restaurant, the back of the house and the front of the house. But with the gaining popularity of culinary curiosity, the rise of open kitchens and collaborative cooking, coupled by the social sharing abilities of food and cooking technology, the walls between the two have begun to come down. Continue reading →]]>During last week’s “The Social Kitchen” panel at Food 2.0, hepatitis Amanda Hesser of Food 52 said something that really stuck to me:

“Technology is knocking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room”

I never really thought about it before, but in some ways it’s true — while the act of eating together and breaking bread has always been an inherently social activity, cooking has conventionally been more of a solitary act confined to the kitchen. If you think about it, a traditional kitchen has almost always been walled off from the dining room, and in a way, that separation also dictates our interactions in both spaces.

Whether it’s at home or at the restaurant, there has long been a schism between eating and cooking – in the case of the home it’s the divide between the kitchen and the dining room, and at the restaurant, the back of the house and the front of the house. But with the gaining popularity of culinary curiosity, the rise of open kitchens and collaborative cooking, coupled by the social sharing abilities of food and cooking technology, the walls between the two have begun to come down.

While Ruby on Rails and Gems still completely perplex me, what draws me most to technology is not so much the 1’s and 0’s but the ability to facilitate real life, offline behavior. With the emergence of cooking websites, applications, and blogs, learning how to cook and sharing experiences in the kitchen has never been so easily accessible before, empowering the home cook and enabling the emergence of the social cooking and eating experience.

Just last week, I was invited over for a dinner party at my friend Josh‘s apartment along with Cathy and a bunch of their friends. I had never cooked with either Josh or Cathy before, but just having read their blogs and literally browsing through all of their recipes, cooking together almost seemed second-nature to me. In the four person apartment, where Josh and his brother Mike both live with two other roommates and also run their catering business Brothers Green, the kitchen is fully stocked, the island provides ample counter space for chopping and prepping, and the whole space opens up into the living / dining area. For dinner, we were asked to either bring beverages or ingredients to cook with. As friends trickled in and brought varying ingredients, ideas were shared, consensus was made, everyone fell into line, and somehow dinner fell into place. Between all the dumpling wrapping, vegetable chopping, and beer sipping we all became fast, new friends.

Without any pre-planning, a bunch of home cooks managed to cook up an entire dinner on the fly, and we even created some awesome new recipes along the way, one of which I’m sharing with you below. This all just comes to show that you don’t need extensive training or expensive tools to master the culinary domain. The kitchen is now a welcoming place of experimentation and exploration for self taught home cooks – the new voice and authority on the internet.

Beer battered Oyster Mushrooms with Pomegranate and Sake ReductionThis tasted like a new, improved vegetarian version of General Tso’s chicken. The trick is to double-fry the mushrooms, so they stay crispy even after you drizzle a generous dose of pomegranate and sake sauce on top.

Reduction1 large bottle of Pom
1 lime
splash of sake
2 Tbsp sugar
A few tsp of potato starch with water

Method

1. Beat the eggs, pour a splash of beer and set aside in a bowl, then pour panko out into a shallow dish
2. Dip mushrooms in the egg batter, then roll them around in the panko. Repeat until you have all your mushrooms battered up.
3. In a deep fryer or in a big post of oil, deep fry the mushrooms until golden brown.
4. After the first fry, lay the mushrooms out on a piece of paper towel to soak up the excess oil and cool for a bit.
5. Heat up a pan and pour in a bottle of Pom, the juice of a lime, a splash of sake, sugar, potato starch, and a splash of water, stir on low heat.
6. When the mushrooms have rested a few minutes, throw them back into the pot / fryer to fry them again.
7. Stir your pomegranate sake sauce and reduce until a syrupy texture, while keeping an eye on the mushrooms
8. Plate your double-fried mushrooms, then drizzle the sauce on top and sprinkle with chopped scallions (optional)

]]>http://worldtotable.com/2011/06/12/the-social-kitchen/feed/1Laphet Thote: Burmese Tea Leaf Saladhttp://worldtotable.com/2011/05/30/laphet-thote-burmese-tea-leaf-salad/
http://worldtotable.com/2011/05/30/laphet-thote-burmese-tea-leaf-salad/#commentsTue, 31 May 2011 01:53:47 +0000http://worldtotable.com/?p=1242Laphet Thote, tea leaf salad, was at the Burmese restaurant Village Mingala in the East Village. There's something about the sharp zing and pronounced flavor of fermentation that really speaks to me. While the namesake tea leaves were the star of the show, the roasted peanuts, along with a smattering of nuts and seeds stirred into the dish, played a strong supporting role, offering a rounded, nutty contrast to the sharp, pronounced flavor of fermented tea leaves. But before I could return to Village Mingala for a second taste, I was sad to learn that the restaurant had closed down.
Eaten the authentic Burmese way, Laphet Thote challenges the conventional concept of salad. The first thing that comes to mind when you think "salad" is some sort of leafy green. Well, in a Laphet Thote, there are none. The laphet, the Burmese word for these fermented tea leaves, is the star, served in the center of the a dish with other assorted ingredients, which differ according to your preference, encircle the star of the dish.
Tea leaf salad in a traditional Burmese containerContinue reading →]]>cure on Flickr” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldtotable/4988648864/”>Tea leaf salad in a traditional Burmese container

My first encounter with Laphet Thote, theretea leaf salad, check was at the Burmese restaurant Village Mingala in the East Village. There’s something about the sharp zing and pronounced flavor of fermentation that really speaks to me. While the namesake tea leaves were the star of the show, the roasted peanuts, along with a smattering of nuts and seeds stirred into the dish, played a strong supporting role, offering a rounded, nutty contrast to the sharp, pronounced flavor of fermented tea leaves. But before I could return to Village Mingala for a second taste, I was sad to learn that the restaurant had closed down.

Eaten the authentic Burmese way, Laphet Thote challenges the conventional concept of salad. The first thing that comes to mind when you think “salad” is some sort of leafy green. Well, in a Laphet Thote, there are none. The laphet, the Burmese word for these fermented tea leaves, is served in the center of the a dish with other assorted ingredients, which differ according to your preference, encircle the star of the dish.

Typically, a telltale sign of a good salad is a balanced distribution of salad components and dressing in each bite, commonly mixed together in a larger portion then served. On the other hand, tea leaf salad is served in a compartmentalized container, making it possible to adjust the proportion of the ingredients of each handful according to your taste.

I was able to recreate tea leaf salad at home thanks to my Burmese friend Sophie, who not only serves as my resource for all things Burmese related, but also kindly supplies me with laphet, which is apparently illegal to import and distribute here in the United States. I didn’t have a cool compartmentalized platter handy, but here’s Laphet Thote, done my way: A scoop of laphet surrounded by roasted peanuts, fried yellow lentils, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic, and some more nuts

The import of laphet has been banned because certain brands have been found to contain traces of Auramine O, a yellow dye used for coloring silk, cotton, paper and leather, was found. I’m not sure if this is still the case, but I’m hoping that with a gradually growing Burmese community in New Jersey and Queens, there’ll be more chances for laphet thote to emerge on more menus and restaurants.